One of the extensions released as part of Vulkan 1.2.199 was VK_EXT_image_view_min_lod extension. I’m happy to see it published as I have participated in the release process of this extension: from reviewing the spec exhaustively (I even contributed a few things to improve it!) to developing CTS tests for it that will be eventually merged to the CTS repo.
This extension was proposed by Valve to mirror a feature present in Direct3D 12 (check ResourceMinLODClamp here) and Direct3D 11 (check SetResourceMinLOD here). In other words, this extension allows clamping the minimum LOD value accessed by an image view to a minLod value set at image view creation time.
That way, any library or API layer that translates Direct3D 11/12 calls to Vulkan can use the extension to mirror the behavior above on Vulkan directly without workarounds, facilitating the port of Direct3D applications such as games to Vulkan. For example, projects like Vkd3d, Vkd3d-proton and DXVK could benefit from it.
Going into more details, this extension changed how the image level selection is calculated and sets an additional minimum required in the image level for integer texel coordinate operations if it is enabled.
The way to use this feature in an application is very simple:
- Check the extension is supported and if the physical device supports the respective feature:
// Provided by VK_EXT_image_view_min_lod
typedef struct VkPhysicalDeviceImageViewMinLodFeaturesEXT {
VkStructureType sType;
void* pNext;
VkBool32 minLod;
} VkPhysicalDeviceImageViewMinLodFeaturesEXT;
-
Once you know everything is working, enable both the extension and the feature when creating the device.
-
When you want to create a
VkImageViewthat defines a minLod for image accesses, then add the following structure filled with the value you want in VkImageViewCreateInfo’spNext.
// Provided by VK_EXT_image_view_min_lod
typedef struct VkImageViewMinLodCreateInfoEXT {
VkStructureType sType;
const void* pNext;
float minLod;
} VkImageViewMinLodCreateInfoEXT;
And that’s all! As you see, it is a very simple extension.
Happy hacking!